Discovery of Novel TLR7 Agonists as Systemic Agent for Combination With aPD1 for Use in Immuno-oncology.

We have designed and developed novel and selective TLR7 agonists that exhibited potent receptor activity in a cell-based reporter assay. In vitro, these agonists significantly induced secretion of cytokines IL-6, IL-1ß, IL-10, TNFa, IFNa, and IP-10 in human and mouse whole blood. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in mice showed a significant secretion of IFNα and TNFα cytokines. When combined with aPD1 in a CT-26 tumor model, the lead compound showed strong synergistic antitumor activity with complete tumor regression in 8/10 mice dosed using the intravenous route. Structure-activity relationship studies enabled by structure-based designs of TLR7 agonists are disclosed.

DNA-Model-Based Design and Execution of Some Fused Benzodiazepine Hybrid Payloads for Antibody-Drug Conjugate Modality.

A new series with the tetrahydroisoquinoline-fused benzodiazepine (TBD) ring system combined with the surrogates of (1-methyl-1H-pyrrol-3-yl)benzene ("MPB") payloads were designed and executed for conjugation with a monoclonal antibody for anticancer therapeutics. DNA models helped in rationally identifying modifications of the "MPB" binding component and guided structure-activity relationship generation. This hybrid series of payloads exhibited excellent in vitro activity when tested against a panel of various cancer cell lines. One of the payloads was appended with a lysosome-cleavable peptide linker and conjugated with an anti-mesothelin antibody via a site-specific conjugation method mediated by the enzyme bacterial transglutaminase (BTGase). Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) 50 demonstrated good plasma stability and lysosomal cleavage. A single intravenous dose of ADC 50 (5 or 10 nmol/kg) showed robust efficacy in an N87 gastric cancer xenograft model.

Chemical Modification of Linkers Provides Stable Linker-Payloads for the Generation of Antibody-Drug Conjugates.

Stability of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in mouse serum is one of the critical requirements for the evaluation of ADCs in mouse tumor models. Described herein is a strategy to address the mouse serum instability of uncialamycin linker-payloads through various chemical approaches that involve modification of different parts of the linker and payload. This effort ultimately led to the identification of a m-amide p-aminobenzyl carbamate (MA-PABC) group that resulted in linkers with dramatic improvement of mouse serum stability without affecting the desired proteolytic cleavage.

Design, Synthesis, and Structure-Activity Relationships of Novel Tetrahydroisoquinolino Benzodiazepine Dimer Antitumor Agents and Their Application in Antibody-Drug Conjugates.

A series of tetrahydroisoquinoline-based benzodiazepine dimers were synthesized and tested for in vitro cytotoxicity against a panel of cancer cell lines. Structure-activity relationship investigation of various spacers guided by molecular modeling studies helped to identify compounds with picomolar activity. Payload 17 was conjugated to anti-mesothelin and anti-fucosylated monosialotetrahexosylganglioside (FucGM1) antibodies using lysosome-cleavable valine-citrulline dipeptide linkers via heterogeneous lysine conjugation and bacterial transglutaminase-mediated site-specific conjugation. In vitro, these antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) exhibited significant cytotoxic and target-mediated selectivity on human cancer cell lines. The pharmacokinetics and efficacy of these ADCs were further evaluated in gastric and lung cancer xenograft models in mice. Consistent pharmacokinetic profiles, high target specificity, and robust antitumor activity were observed in these models after a single dose of the ADC-46 (0.02 µmol/kg).

Total Synthesis of Meayamycin and O-Acyl Analogues.

A short, scalable total synthesis of meayamycin is described by an approach that entails a longest linear sequence of 12 steps (22 steps overall) from commercially available chiral pool materials (ethyl l-lactate, BocNH-Thr-OH, and d-ribose) and introduces the most straightforward preparation of the right-hand subunit detailed to date. The use of the approach in the divergent synthesis of a representative series of O-acyl analogues is exemplified.

Universal Affinity Capture Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Assay for Evaluation of Biotransformation of Site-Specific Antibody Drug Conjugates in Preclinical Studies.

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) can undergo in vivo biotransformation (e.g., payload metabolism, deconjugation) leading to reduced or complete loss of activity. The location/site of conjugation of payload-linker can have an effect on ADC stability and hence needs to be carefully optimized. Affinity capture LC-MS of intact ADCs or ADC subfragments has been extensively used to evaluate ADC biotransformation. However, the current methods have certain limitations such as the requirement of specific capture reagents, limited mass resolution of low mass change metabolites, low sensitivity, and use of capillary or nanoflow LC-MS. To address these challenges, we developed a generic affinity capture LC-MS assay that can be utilized to evaluate the biotransformation of any site-specific ADC independent of antibody type and site of conjugation (Fab and Fc) in preclinical studies. The method involves a combination of some or all of these steps: (1) "mono capture" or "dual capture" of ADCs from serum with streptavidin magnetic beads coated with a generic biotinylated antihuman capture reagent, (2) "on-bead" digestion with IdeS and/or PNGase F, and (3) reduction of interchain disulfide bonds to generate ∼25 kDa ADC subfragments, which are finally analyzed by LC-HRMS on a TOF mass spectrometer. The advantages of this method are that it can be performed using commercially available generic reagents and requires sample preparation time of less than 7 h. Furthermore, by reducing the size of intact ADC (∼150 kDa) to subfragments (∼25 kDa), the identification of conjugated payload and its metabolites can be achieved with excellent sensitivity and resolution (hydrolysis and other small mass change metabolites). This method was successfully applied to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo biotransformation of ADCs conjugated at different sites (LC, HC-Fab, and HC-Fc) with various classes of payload-linkers.

Uncialamycin as a novel payload for antibody drug conjugate (ADC) based targeted cancer therapy.

Uncialamycin analogs were evaluated as potential cytotoxic agents in an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approach to treating human cancer. These analogs were synthesized using Hauser annulations of substituted phthalides as a key step. A highly potent uncialamycin analog 3c with a valine-citrulline dipeptide linker was conjugated to an anti-mesothelin monoclonal antibody (mAb) through lysines to generate a meso-13 conjugate. This conjugate demonstrated subnanomolar potency (IC50 = 0.88 nM, H226 cell line) in in vitro cytotoxicity experiments with good immunological specificity to mesothelin-positive lung cancer cell lines. The potency and mechanism of action of this uncialamycin class of enediyne antitumor antibiotics make them attractive payloads in ADC-based cancer therapy.

Streamlined Total Synthesis of Uncialamycin and Its Application to the Synthesis of Designed Analogues for Biological Investigations.

From the enediyne class of antitumor antibiotics, uncialamycin is among the rarest and most potent, yet one of the structurally simpler, making it attractive for chemical synthesis and potential applications in biology and medicine. In this article we describe a streamlined and practical enantioselective total synthesis of uncialamycin that is amenable to the synthesis of novel analogues and renders the natural product readily available for biological and drug development studies. Starting from hydroxy- or methoxyisatin, the synthesis features a Noyori enantioselective reduction, a Yamaguchi acetylide-pyridinium coupling, a stereoselective acetylide-aldehyde cyclization, and a newly developed annulation reaction that allows efficient coupling of a cyanophthalide and a p-methoxy semiquinone aminal to forge the anthraquinone moiety of the molecule. Overall, the developed streamlined synthesis proceeds in 22 linear steps (14 chromatographic separations) and 11% overall yield. The developed synthetic strategies and technologies were applied to the synthesis of a series of designed uncialamycin analogues equipped with suitable functional groups for conjugation to antibodies and other delivery systems. Biological evaluation of a select number of these analogues led to the identification of compounds with low picomolar potencies against certain cancer cell lines. These compounds and others like them may serve as powerful payloads for the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) intended for personalized targeted cancer therapy.

Expedient synthesis of chiral 1,2- and 1,4-diamines: protecting group dependent regioselectivity in direct organocatalytic asymmetric Mannich reactions.

[reaction: see text] Organocatalytic asymmetric Mannich reaction of protected amino ketones with imines in the presence of an L-proline-derived tetrazole catalyst afforded diamines with excellent yields and enantioselectivities of up to 99%. The amino ketone protecting group controlled the regioselectivity of the reaction providing access to chiral 1,2-diamines from azido ketones and 1,4-diamines from phthalimido ketones.

Total synthesis of LFA-1 antagonist BIRT-377 via organocatalytic asymmetric construction of a quaternary stereocenter.

A catalytic route for enantioselective total synthesis of cell adhesion inhibitor BIRT-377 is described. The quaternary stereocenter was constructed through l-proline-derived, tetrazole-catalyzed direct asymmetric alpha-amination of 3-(4-bromophenyl)-2-methylpropanal with dibenzyl azodicarboxylate. In the course of these studies, a one-pot trifluoro acetylation/selective benzyloxycarbonyl deprotection method was developed. [structure: see text]

Direct organocatalytic asymmetric heterodomino reactions: the Knoevenagel/Diels-Alder/epimerization sequence for the highly diastereoselective synthesis of symmetrical and nonsymmetrical synthons of benzoannelated centropolyquinanes.

Amino acids and amines have been used to catalyze three component hetero-domino Knoevenagel/Diels-Alder/epimerization reactions of readily available various precursor enones (1a-l), aldehydes (2a-p), and 1,3-indandione (3). The reaction provided excellent yields of highly substituted, symmetrical and nonsymmetrical spiro[cyclohexane-1,2'-indan]-1',3',4-triones (5) in a highly diastereoselective fashion with low to moderate enantioselectivity. The Knoevenagel condensation of arylaldehydes (2a-p) and 1,3-indandione (3) under organocatalysis provided arylidene-1,3-indandiones (17) in very good yields. We demonstrate for the first time amino acid- and amine-catalyzed epimerization reactions of trans-spiranes (6) to cis-spiranes (5). The mechanism of conversion of trans-spiranes (6) to cis-spiranes 5 was shown to proceed through a retro-Michael/Michael reaction rather than deprotonation/reprotonation by isolation of the morpholine enamine intermediate of cis-spirane (22). Prochiral cis-spiranes (5ab) and trans-spiranes (6ab) are excellent starting materials for the synthesis of benzoannelated centropolyquinanes. Under amino acid and amine catalysis, the topologically interesting dispirane 24 was prepared in moderate yields. Organocatalysis with pyrrolidine catalyzed a series of four reactions, namely the Michael/retro-Michael/Diels-Alder/epimerization reaction sequence to furnish cis-spirane 5ab in moderate yield from enone 1a and 1,3-indandione 3.

Asymmetric synthesis of quaternary alpha- and beta-amino acids and beta-lactams via proline-catalyzed mannich reactions with branched aldehyde donors.

[reaction: see text] L-Proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric Mannich reactions of N-PMP protected alpha-imino ethyl glyoxylate with various alpha,alpha-disubstituted aldehydes affords quaternary beta-formyl alpha-amino acid derivatives with excellent yields and enantioselectivities. The Mannich products are further converted to the corresponding quaternary alpha- and beta-amino acids and beta-lactams.

The direct organocatalytic asymmetric mannich reaction: unmodified aldehydes as nucleophiles.

The unprecedented application of unmodified aldehydes as nucleophilic donors in direct catalytic asymmetric Mannich-type reactions is disclosed in a full account. Our efforts in broadening the applicability of chiral pyrrolidine-based catalysts in direct asymmetric Mannich-type reactions led to the highly diastereo- and enantioselective and concise synthesis of functionalized alpha- and beta-amino acids, beta-lactams, and amino alcohols.

Organocatalytic asymmetric assembly reactions: one-pot synthesis of functionalized beta-amino alcohols from aldehydes, ketones, and azodicarboxylates.

[reaction: see text] l-Proline catalyzed the enzyme-like direct asymmetric assembly of aldehydes, ketones, and azodicarboxylic acid esters to provide optically active beta-amino alcohols. This assembly reaction uses both aldehydes and ketones as donors in one pot. The aldol-derived stereocenter is formed with a reduced facial selectivity in reactions involving (R)-amino aldehydes. The reactions can be performed on a multigram scale under operationally simple and safe conditions without the requirement of an inert atmosphere or dry solvents.

A trifunctional catalyst for one-pot synthesis of chiral diols via Heck coupling-N-oxidation-asymmetric dihydroxylation: application for the synthesis of diltiazem and taxol side chain.

A heterogeneous bifunctional catalyst composed of OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-) and a trifunctional catalyst comprising PdCl4(2-)-OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-), designed and prepared by an ion-exchange technique using layered double hydroxides (LDH) as an ion-exchanger and their homogeneous bifunctional analogue, K2OsO4-Na2WO4 and trifunctional analogue, Na2PdCl4-K2OsO4-Na2WO4, devised for the first time are evaluated for the synthesis of chiral vicinal diols. These bifunctional and trifunctional catalysts perform asymmetric dihydroxylation-N-oxidation and Heck-asymmetric dihydroxylation-N-oxidation, respectively, in the presence of Sharpless chiral ligand, (DHQD)2PHAL in a single pot using H2O2 as a terminal oxidant to provide N-methylmorpholine oxide (NMO) in situ by the oxidation of N-methylmorpholine (NMM). The heterogeneous bifunctional catalyst supported on LDH (LDH-OsW) displays superior activity to afford diols with higher yields over the other heterogeneous catalysts developed by the ion exchange on quaternary ammonium salts covalently bound to resin (resin-OsW) and silica (silica-OsW) or homogeneous catalysts in the achiral dihydroxylation reactions. The LDH-OsW and its homogeneous analogue are found to be very efficient in performing a simultaneous asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD)-N-oxidation of a wide and varied range of aromatic, cyclic, and mono, di-, and trisubstituted olefins to obtain chiral vicinal diols with higher yields and ee's using H2O2. Further, the use of OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-) catalysts as such or in the supported form offers a simplified procedure for catalyst recycling, which shows consistent activity for a number of cycles. In this process, Os(VI) is recycled to Os(VIII) by a coupled electron transfer-mediator (ETM) system based on NMO-WO4(2-) using H2O2, leading to a mild and selective electron transfer. The one-pot biomimic synthesis of chiral diols is mediated by a recyclable trifunctional heterogeneous catalyst (LDH-PdOsW) consisting of active palladium, tungsten, and osmium species embedded in a single matrix. This protocol, which provides prochiral olefins and NMO in situ by Heck coupling and N-oxidation of NMM, respectively, required for the AD, unfolds a low cost process. We extended the present method to the one-pot synthesis of trisubstituted chiral vicinal diols with moderate to excellent ee's by AD of trisubstituted olefins that are obtained by in situ Heck arylation of disubstituted olefins. The heterogeneous trifunctional catalysts offers chiral diols with unprecedented ee's and excellent yields in the AD of prochiral cinnamates, which are obtained in situ from acrylates and halobenzenes for the first time. The new variants such as LDH support and Et3N*HX inherently composed in the heterogeneous multicomponent system and slow addition of H2O2 facilitates the hydrolysis of osmium monogylcolate ester to subdue the formation of bisglycolate ester to achieve higher ee's. Without resorting to recrystallization, the chiral diols of cinnamates thus synthesized with 99% ee's and devoid of osmium contamination are directly put to use in the synthesis of diltiazem and Taxol side chain with an overall improved yield to demonstrate the synthetic utility of the trifunctional heterogeneous catalyst. The high binding ability of the heterogeneous osmium catalyst enables the use of equimolar ratio of ligand to osmium to give excellent ee's in AD in contrast to the homogeneous osmium system in which the excess molar quantities of the expensive chiral ligand to osmium are invariably used. Further, the XRD, FT-IR, UV-vis DRS, and XPS studies indicate the retention of the coordination geometries of the specific divalent anions anchored to LDH matrix in their monomeric form during the ion exchange and after the reaction.

Layered double hydroxide supported nanopalladium catalyst for Heck-, Suzuki-, Sonogashira-, and Stille-type coupling reactions of chloroarenes.

Layered double hydroxide and Merrifield resin supported nanopalladium(0) catalysts are prepared by an exchange of PdCl(4)(2-) followed by reduction and well characterized for the first time. The ligand-free heterogeneous layered double hydroxide supported nanopalladium (LDH-Pd(0)) catalyst using the basic LDH in place of basic ligands indeed exhibits higher activity and selectivity in the Heck olefination of electron-poor and electron-rich chloroarenes in nonaqueous ionic liquids (NAIL) over the homogeneous PdCl(2) system. Using microwave irradiation, the rate of the Heck olefination reaction is accelerated, manifold with the highest turnover frequency ever recorded in the case of both electron-poor and electron-rich chloroarenes. The basic LDH-Pd(0) shows a superior activity over a range of supported catalysts, from acidic to weakly basic Pd/C, Pd/SiO(2,) Pd/Al(2)O(3), and resin-PdCl(4)(2-) in the Heck olefination of deactivated electron-rich 4-chloroanisole. The use of LDH-Pd(0) is extended to the Suzuki-, Sonogashira-, and Stille-type coupling reactions of chloroarenes in an effort to understand the scope and utility of the reaction. The catalyst is quantitatively recovered from the reaction by a simple filtration and reused for a number of cycles with almost consistent activity in all the coupling reactions. The heterogeneity studies provide an insight into mechanistic aspects of the Heck olefination reaction and evidence that the reaction proceeds on the surface of the nanopalladium particles of the heterogeneous catalyst. TEM images of the fresh and used catalyst indeed show that the nanostructured palladium supported on LDH remains unchanged at the end of the reaction, while the XPS and evolved gas detection by TGA-MS of the used catalyst identify ArPdX species on the heterogeneous surface. Thus, the ligand-free nanopalladium supported on LDH, synthesized by the simple protocol, displays superior activity over the other heterogeneous catalysts inclusive of nanopalladium in the C-C coupling reactions of chloroarenes.

A new bifunctional catalyst for tandem Heck-asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins.

A new bifunctional catalyst consisting of active palladium and osmium species anchored on silica gel through a mercaptopropyl spacer and a cinchona alkaloid respectively has been prepared for the first time and used in the heterogeneous tandem Heck-asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins to afford diols with excellent yields and enantiomeric excesses (ee's) in presence of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide or K3Fe(CN)6 as cooxidants.

Catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins with reusable OsO(4)(2-) on ion-exchangers: the scope and reactivity using various cooxidants.

Exchanger-OsO(4) catalysts are prepared by an ion-exchange technique using layered double hydroxides and quaternary ammonium salts covalently bound to resin and silica as ion-exchangers. The ion-exchangers with different characteristics and opposite ion selectivities are specially chosen to produce the best heterogeneous catalyst that can operate using the various cooxidants in the asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction. LDH-OsO(4) catalysts composed of different compositions are evaluated for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of trans-stilbene. Resin-OsO(4) and SiO(2)-OsO(4) designed to overcome the problems associated with LDH-OsO(4) indeed show consistent activity and enantioselectivity in asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins using K(3)Fe(CN)(6) and molecular oxygen as cooxidants. Compared to the Kobayashi heterogeneous systems, resin-OsO(4) is a very efficient catalyst for the dihydroxylation of a wide variety of aromatic, aliphatic, acyclic, cyclic, mono-, di-, and trisubstituted olefins to afford chiral vicinal diols with high yields and enantioselectivities irrespective of the cooxidant used. Resin-OsO(4) is recovered quantitatively by a simple filtration and reused for a number of cycles with consistent activity. The high binding ability of the heterogeneous osmium catalyst enables the use of an equimolar ratio of ligand to osmium to give excellent enantioselectives in asymmetric dihydroxylation in contrast to the homogeneous osmium system in which excess molar quantities of the expensive chiral ligand to osmium are invariably used. The complexation of the chiral ligand (DHQD)(2)PHAL, having very large dimension, a prerequisite to obtain higher ee, is possible only with the OsO(4)(2-) located on the surface of the supports.